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REUTERS
New Delhi, July 23: India is working on new support measures to reverse a decline in private sector investment in wind power projects, a government official said on Friday.
Private sector participation in India's wind power industry took off in 1992 but then fell sharply from mid-1996 due to the imposition of new taxes, an economic slowdown and bureaucratic delays in land allotment and environmental clearances.
The new proposals include the withdrawal of minimum tax on renewable energy projects, automatic environmental clearance for units of generation capacity up to five megawatts and softer loans.
"These support measures are small bits required to propel wind power," Ajit Gupta, adviser in the ministry of non-conventional energy sources, told a seminar on "Wind power: Experience and future directions".
From 1995/96 (April-March), India imposed a five percent turnover tax on businesses that were not eligible for paying other taxes.
Gupta said promoters of power projects based on fossil fuels wouldbe asked to set up wind energy farms as their investments on off-site facilities would be less because of existing infrastructure.
State governments would also be asked to earmark a portion of their new generation capacities for wind power projects, he said.
The proposals also include setting up a central utility which would acquire land, create necessary infrastructure, and establish wind power projects of up to 25 MW.
From 1992 to 1997 India installed 900 MW of wind power generation capacity, against a target of 600 MW. But capacity additions took a downturn with a total of 125 MW being added in 1997/98 and 1998/99, against a target of 1,000 MW for the Ninth Plan (1997-2002).
"With further technology improvement and removal of Financial, operational and institutional constraints, the installation rate could be higher..." said NN Mookerjee, the ministry's highest-ranking bureaucrat.
It should be possible to achieve annual addition of at least 500 mw during the remaining years of the plan."
"Weare implementing the world's largest wind resource assessment programme... Preliminary estimates indicate a potential of about 20,000 mw," Mookerjee added. Total installed capacity of power from renewable sources stood at 1,450 mw with wind power contributing 1,025 mw as at March 31, 1999.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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